Nishantha Priyalal De Alwis vs. Hon. Attorney General – CA BAIL 27/2020-2021

In the case between the Hon. Attorney General (and Officer-in-Charge, Assistance to and Protection of Victims and Witnesses Unit) and Nishantha Priyalal De Alwis, the court addressed the issue of whether the petitioner, indicted under the Assistance to and Protection of Victims of Crime and Witnesses Act No. 4 of 2015, was entitled to bail under section 10(1)(a) of the Act, which restricts bail to circumstances deemed “exceptional.” It was held that the circumstances advanced by the petitioner, including threats allegedly received and purported deficiencies in police investigation, did not satisfy the threshold for “exceptional circumstances.” The decision reaffirmed that factual disputes are not resolved at the bail stage absent clear evidence of a miscarriage of justice, and that abscond